1. We will see a starting lineup very similar to the one used against France. The only differences will be Michael Orozco Fiscal for Clarence Goodson (please see prediction #3 vs. France) and DaMarcus Beasley for Danny Williams.

2. Timmy Chandler and Brek Shea will rebound well from off-games against France. One of them will contribute to …

3. …Jozy Altidore’s goal. Jozy’s strong play will result in a tally on the score sheet, thus quieting (briefly) the crowd clamoring for Mike Grella to get his shot up top for the Nats.

4. The Allstate Tim Howard brain-mic will make its debut today, and we’ll get to hear the internal thoughts of the USMNT’s hottest player. This will mostly consist of musings on Brek Shea’s hair, Beckerman’s hygeine, and insurance quotes for the US back line.

5. USA 1-1 Slovenia. We learned our lesson last time and decided to keep this a low-scoring affair (through six games under Klinsmann, no team (USA or opponent) has scored more than one goal in a game, and we see the trend continuing today). The US will capitalize on some good early play, as Brek Shea finds Jozy Altidore for the Americans’ lone goal. Slovenia will equalize before the half, then we’ll all have to endure a long, boring second half. Man of the Match for the Americans — smart money’s on Howard (he’s got to be batting .500 under Klinsmann, right?), but we’ll, once again, go with our projected goal scorer, Jozy Altidore.

1. Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Jermaine Jones, and Kyle Beckerman will hold down the Sorry. Forgot who was coaching. Jurgen Klinsmann (obviously influenced by our latest P2010 Index) cools it on Beckerman and gives the nod to Edu and Bradley in central midfield. The back line will look a bit of a throwback, with Cherundolo,Onyewu, and Bocanegra all starting – Timmy Chandler will hold down left back. Shea and Williams will play the wings, and Dempsey will play as second striker. Altidore will get the nod up top.

Apparently Onyewu suffered a minor injury that kept him out of the squad. Other than that, the only thing I got wrong (formation included) was Beckerman. Should have known better. GRADE: B

2. The German influence will be more prevalent than ever today. Between the coach and players, at least 1/3 of American participants will be German-born. 40% or more will have played in a German league at some point.

Almost. By my count, coach included, 8/16 (50%) of participants played in Germany, but only 5/16 (31%) were born in Germany. GRADE: A-

3. Michael Orozco Fiscal will participate in his fourth “this has to be his last cap ever, right?” match in a row — the longest streak since Frankie Hejduk’s dream run of ’09.

1. Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Jermaine Jones, and Kyle Beckerman will hold down the Sorry. Forgot who was coaching. Jurgen Klinsmann (obviously influenced by our latest P2010 Index) cools it on Beckerman and gives the nod to Edu and Bradley in central midfield. The back line will look a bit of a throwback, with Cherundolo, Onyewu, and Bocanegra all starting — Timmy Chandler will hold down left back. Shea and Williams will play the wings, and Dempsey will play as second striker. Altidore will get the nod up top.

2. The German influence will be more prevalent than ever today. Between the coach and players, at least 1/3 of American participants will be German-born. 40% or more will have played in a German league at some point.

3. Michael Orozco Fiscal will participate in his fourth “this has to be his last cap ever, right?” match in a row — the longest streak since Frankie Hejduk’s dream run of ’09.

4. After the US is held scoreless in the first half, “Josh Gatt” will become the #9 trending topic on Twitter. #givemeabreak

5. USA 1 – 3 France. The USA will look in the game for the first 35 minutes or so, before France goes ahead 1-0 and takes the wind out of their sails. They’ll score their second soon after the break. Altidore will give the Americans their only goal and a bit of hope in the 61st minute, but France will put the game out of reach in the 80th. Yet another game where individuals will have nice performances (Shea, Altidore, Dempsey, Chandler), but the team won’t be able to pull it together. Man of the Match for the Americans will go to Jozy Altidore, for his contribution to the scoresheet. Impatient fans are going to start asking (if they haven’t already), “When are we going to see some results?” Maybe we will, too…

[Via LiverpoolFC.tv] Liverpool Football Club have confirmed the signing of Marc Pelosi from the DeAnza Force Club in California. The midfielder was captain of the United States U17 team who participated in this year’s FIFA World Cup tournament in Mexico. Pelosi has featured 28 times for the U17s against other national sides, scoring eight goals. [...]

The P2010 Index tracks every performance of every player who suits up for the National Team during the 2014 World Cup cycle, using match ratings from the country’s top soccer writers. The Index factors in recent form, strength of opponent, match type, and location, making it something like Power Rankings for the USMNT. (It’s all [...]

Looks like there’s a new player in the analyzing-US-National-Team-player-ratings game. They may be three years late, but we’d like to welcome the New York Times Goal blog to the party! What took you so long, boys? As you may or may not know, we’ve been analyzing US player ratings for a while now, and even [...]